Month: January 2011

Remembering the Challenger

I will never forget where I was when the Challenger exploded, 25 years ago today. I was watching from the TV room in our fraternity house with my boy Scooter and others. Astonishing that it was 25 years ago; it seems like yesterday. That tragedy struck me hard and it’s only appropriate that we remember them today. Embedded is the speech President Reagan gave that fateful day. Regardless of how you feel about the man, it’s one of the greatest speeches of the modern era. If you haven’t seen this, it’s worth the four minutes.

RIP, Challenger crew.

Review: 11" MacBook Air

I wrote the below post for TechDork, but figured what the hell. May as well post here too, for those of you who travel and might be interested.
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I have to say that of the literally dozens of computers I have owned throughout the years, by far, the MacBook Air 11″ is the best. I know I am a bit of a fanboy, but my proclivity towards Mac products aside, I just love this thing.

Why? Four simple reasons:

1. It is beyond light. I travel a ton and can’t articulate how easy it is to carry. It’s so light, I often times take it with me on weekends to places I wouldn’t ordinarily carry a laptop.
2. I love how it doesn’t require boot time. This is huge. You open it and it starts, in the spirit of an iPad. And even when in hibernation mode, it has a long lasting battery life. This is really critical for me when I’m stuck in places like airports. I turn it on and can get immediately to work.
3. Few compromises. It’s light, and the SSD is a bit on the small size, but beyond that it’s more than fast enough for me to do everything I require on a day-to-day basis. It is NOT a netbook. Not even close. I also notice no lag whatsoever in terms of processing speed (which was a big issue for me with the original Air). Another critical enhancement was the addition of a second USB hub.
4. I guess this point is a corollary to the one above, but despite its small size, it has a full fledged keyboard. Again, though it is small, it doesn’t feel that way, except for the screen.

Dislikes?

Really, only one that I have been able to thus far discover. As noted above, the screen is a bit small. After a full day’s use, I definitely feel some eye fatigue. But this is somewhat manageable by increasing the font size.

Caveats

One important caveat: I don’t think the 11″ would at all serve as a primary computer. It doesn’t have the heft for most iTunes library (I keep zero music on it), to do video editing, etc. I wouldn’t even consider it for a primary – I have a 13″ MacBook Pro at home that serves this purpose. It’s really constructed to be an agile, easy to carry, absolutely killer secondary travel computer, and it serves this purpose very, very well at a relatively reasonable price point.

If you are a serious business traveller, it gets an unequivocal two thumbs up.

Some New Music

For all of you music lovers out there, I’ve been listening to some good stuff lately that I recommend, including: the new Destroyers (excellent and getting better with each successive listen), Cloud Nothings (particularly if you like a lo-fi sound), the new Cut Copy (80’s dance beat – excellent)and the new Decemberists (typical Decemberists; a bit pretentious, but very listenable. There are also a few excellent new mixtapes; the new jj (which is free – and just fantastic), Rick Ross and Das Racist, which is highly entertaining.

Anyway, that’s what is in my iPod. Now that I’ve started to ramp up my running again, I’m open to any and all recommendations.

More Beer

On the heels of yesterday’s post, I got another shipment today from my beer club. This months California is represented via Mendocino Brewing Company, featuring their Red Tail Ale and Blue Heron Pale Ale. The other brewery is Stegmaier Brewing Company from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which included their signature IPA and Winter Warmer.

Full reviews in a few days. Short of a hot Summer day or special occasion, as a rule of thumb I usually don’t drink at all until Thursday night.

J.E.T.S, JETS, JETS, JETS

Sorry for going dark all week; this just might have been the craziest work week I’ve had in years. Literally back to back to back 15 hour days. But – it’s all good.

Anyway, moving on to football, I’m pretty darn stoked that my Jets beat the Patriots last week. Nothing better than a team from New York beating one from Boston. Except Michigan defeating Ohio State, but that’s a story for another day.

Anyway, if the Jets can get by Pittsburgh on Sunday – a big “if” – I am giving very serious consideration to going to the Super Bowl. Think that would be a once in a lifetime type of experience.

So, let’s hear predictions from the peanut galley; who’s going to win this weekend’s games and by what score? I will mail a special prize to the winner…….

First Race of the Year

So I did my first race of 2011 today here in LA – the LA half marathon. Generally speaking I was happy with my ti e – 1:38 – on this flat and fast course, especially as I trained through it hard this week and had virtually no taper. I was running fairly steady 7:20-7:25 pace until around mile 8, when the sun came out and the wheels came off a bit. But that was to be expected. I was mostly able to keep it together and all things considered I was pretty happy. With all my ultra running I forgot how much a half can hurt.

After the race I met up with my good friend Amy (who sometimes frequents these pages) and her fantastic family. Our kids became fast friends and it was an excellent afternoon that only got better when the Jets beat the Patriots.

At least one of my teams knows how to win.

Go Jets.

Coach Hoke

As some of you probably know, Michigan hired a new football coach yesterday, Brady Hoke.

He’s not the pick that many were expecting – and the process in terms of getting there has been at times messy – but I cannot help feeling good about it. Based on what I have read and what former players are saying, there’s something about this guy that I just like. Not to mention, I implicitly trust our new athletic director; I think he’s a very smart and methodical man.

I am feeling very optimistic that Hoke is going to be able to return our program to its former glory. And generally speaking, when it comes to Michigan football I am a doom and gloom kind of guy, so my feelings on this subject are a bit out of the ordinary (for me at least).

Regardless, he’s our guy and if you are a Michigan fan or alumn, it’s your obligation – for now – to support the man.

So, good luck and godspeed Coach Hoke. And Go Blue!